My Sister age 29, 5'3", 165-170lbs.

[Doublebase]

Please help me, help her, lose weight. I printed out some of the stickies for her to read. She is coming over tomorrow night to workout. She wants to start losing. She is serious. She wants a change. She is tired of being heavy and wants to get back to her 21 year old bw of 115-120lbs. Can you link me some stickies you think she should read? Also a basic diet she can follow and a basic training program. She hasn't done anything physical in probably a decade. We leave for vacation July 26. I told her she could lose close to 20lbs by then if trains and follows a strict diet. Wishful thinking but it is possible.

 

[DOMS]

Start with something simple. Have her say no to junk food 1 out of 3 times and eat in good portions.

I did this and dropped from ~235 to 198.

 

[Doublebase]

Start with something simple. Have her say no to junk food 1 out of 3 times and eat in good portions.

I did this and dropped from ~235 to 198.

When you say good portions. Like 5 small meals a day spaced 3 hours apart? What supplements should I have her take? I was thinking a multi-vitamin and get her a protein powder so she can have that in the morning and after workouts.

 

[Double D]

And you look mighty sexy DOMS!

 

[DOMS]

When you say good portions. Like 5 small meals a day spaced 3 hours apart? What supplements should I have her take? I was thinking a multi-vitamin and get her a protein powder so she can have that in the morning and after workouts.

I said keep it simple.

Don't try to change what, or how often, she eats. She ask her to say no to crap food (chips, ice cream, candy, etc.) one out of three times.

As for what constitutes a "portion", tell he to limit what ever she's eating to a cup (the measurement) or so. Dinner might be a 6 oz of steak, a baked potato (whatever topping she wants), and a small salad.

Again, you're not trying to get her to eat healthy yet, you're just trying to get her to eat responsibly.

If you decided to take up running, would you start by trying to do a 10k marathon? Of course not! The problem is that, when people try to clean up their diet, they try to run a marathon of perfect foods, perfect portions, perfect meal timing, and supplements. This is going to lead to failure.

If you help her to take it slowly, you'll help her to succeed.

Another thing that's easy to do, is to get her to switch to diet if she's a soda drinker. That, along with the other two things, will significantly cut down on her caloric intake without making her feel like she's on a diet and triggering any negative feelings about changing her diet.

 

[DOMS]

And you look mighty sexy DOMS!

You're sure those jeans don't make my ass look too big?

 

[Doublebase]

I know she eats late at night. They probably eat dinner around 8-8:30 at night. They both work late. I don't think she eats junk food. I know she takes medications. I will ask her what she takes.

 

[Bakerboy]

What are you planning to do with her exercise wise? Weights and cardio? Ask her what she likes doing, walking, riding, running, swimming etc. The main thing at the beginning is to get her to feel good about herself by choosing something that she likes to do so she will stick to it.

 

[DOMS]

Walking. It's the favorite thing to do for most women who start to get in shape. You get another woman who'll walk (and talk) with her. That way, it won't really feel like cardio.

 

[Doublebase]

I was going to show her a bunch of exercises for each bodypart and have her choose some that she likes. I was also going to show her some boxing moves and see if she enjoys hitting the bag. My mom liked that.

 

[Doublebase]

Update. We've been working out for a couple weeks now. I just have do different types of weight training. Every type of exercise you can think of. I have her do a full body circuit type of training. My main goal is to help her to lose weight but not have her hate exercising. I show her a bunch of exercises and have her choose the ones she enjoys doing. I also taught her some basic boxing. She is currently up to 4 rounds. 2min rounds with 30 sec intervals. I just let her hit me while I cover up and move around. She can barely keep her hands up at the end. I followed what DOMS said about having her give up some of the sweets she is eating. I told her to start eating a little more for breakfast and eat small healthy meals throughout the day. She has started eating more fruits and whole foods. I hope this lasts. She is doing really well.

 

[Plateau_Max]

First have her cut out all junk food and soda. ALL OF IT. The big thing with sugar is how addictive it is. If you're not eating it you're not craving it. Having a candybar once every couple days you're going to be thinking about it more. Sodas are the #1 source of excess calories in the U.S. and they're really not so damn tasty that you have to have them, and diet soda is just an unnecessary tease.

Fruit is good, especially earlier in the day but remember she needs to be eating a lot more vegitibles. Health wise not only is it great stuff but it will also bring down Homocysteine levels which is awesome for your overall health and how well you function.

One of the biggest motivators to being healthy is being well educated about it. I read books about diet and nutrition all the time and I swear 10 minutes into reading I'm always REALLY motivated by everything I read. Try to stay away from salads if you can simply because 2c of salad greens is only about 15 calories, so it's pretty unsatisfactory to eat it and an hour later your body is feeling like it needs more food real bad.

 

[OddGirl]

After being in a similar situation as your sister I can tell you that if she wants it bad enough then it'll be easy.

Cutting out junk food, measuring out portions and working out were key for me.

 

[squanto]

Try to stay away from salads if you can simply because 2c of salad greens is only about 15 calories, so it's pretty unsatisfactory to eat it and an hour later your body is feeling like it needs more food real bad.

I'd like to correct that:

Stay away from salad as an energy source. Salads very healthy, but most of the veggies aren't giving you energy to function. So have a salad, but only in addition to proper sources of energy... lean protein, rice, yada yada yada you know the rest.

 

[Plateau_Max]

I suppose I should have worded it better. I meant stay away from having salads as an entire meal. Unless of course it's a large salad mixed with proper portions of lean protein (like chicken breast for example) and maybe some healthy fat like nuts.

 

[squanto]

yeah i knew what you were getting at i just didnt want anyone to get the wrong idea

 

[DanK]

Hmmm, how do you say no to junk 1 in 3 times... when I get a craving for something I don't need but crave, I'm using thinking about it for a long time on a fairly regular basis... let's just say I say no probably 3 times in the first 10 minutes (if not the first minute)...

I will say cutting out all the junk is not too hard, and I'd count restaurant food as junk, even if it's relatively healthy... have her make a log of the food she eats, it doesn't have to be down to the calories etc but generally try to determine the portions and what she eats, I like to weight myself every morning and put that in the log, what I've seen is sometimes when I finally give into a sugar craving that I actually break a plateau the next day... it seems weird but there have been entirely too many entries in my food log where my weight plateaued and I eventually gave into a craving for a coke and then suddenly broke the plateau.... but sugar is addictive and it's hard to just get one.

Just avoiding the high salt high sugar foods will do wonders but I strongly recommend lots of fresh veggies and some fruits, even unsalted nuts (I like cashews and walnuts). Nuts are high calories but I think they were worth it for the protein and fats they provide. If she owns a PS2 or Xbox (or even a PC) she can get a dance dance revolution game and that can be a very fun way to get cardio, and tends to motivate people to go out and get more exercise.

 

[Doublebase]

If she owns a PS2 or Xbox (or even a PC) she can get a dance dance revolution game and that can be a very fun way to get cardio, and tends to motivate people to go out and get more exercise.

LOL. mental picture.

 

[Arnold]

We leave for vacation July 26. I told her she could lose close to 20lbs by then if trains and follows a strict diet. Wishful thinking but it is possible.

That is a bad idea, you're talking about 5 weeks, I would say 10lbs max (2lbs per week). Losing more than that is not only difficult but very unhealthy, also if she starts weight training she will gain muscle mass.

 

[DOMS]

That is a bad idea, you're talking about 5 weeks, I would say 10lbs max (2lbs per week). Losing more than that is not only difficult but very unhealthy, also if she starts weight training she will gain muscle mass.

Yep. When you start working out you should (at first) ignore the scale and instead focus on the tape-measure, the mirror, and how your clothes fit.

 

[Doublebase]

Yep. When you start working out you should (at first) ignore the scale and instead focus on the tape-measure, the mirror, and how your clothes fit.

I told her to stay off the scale. She was getting compliments at my house-warming party this past weekend. That might have just been the spray tan she got though. She says she feels better. She has cut out a lot in her diet. She eats more frequently, instead of 2 meals a day.

I have her work out with weights for about 20 mins then we do 4 rounds of boxing. We end it with running outside. Mostly sprinting. She's completed 6 workouts so far and is coming over tonight. The weight training consists of a lot of full body movements. Also, arm exercises, shoulder work, back, chest, w/e. Basic stuff. Should I not have her train with weights?

 

[DanK]

Woah, no one said weights were bad, if anything everyone is probably in shock that you didn't have to dedicate a paragraph of your first post in this thread to how you couldn't convince her that weights won't turn her into the incredible hulk.

 

[Doublebase]

Woah, no one said weights were bad, if anything everyone is probably in shock that you didn't have to dedicate a paragraph of your first post in this thread to how you couldn't convince her that weights won't turn her into the incredible hulk.

Lol. I didn't want to put you all to sleep. Yes she said the typical newbie statements. "I don't want to get huge". "I need to get rid of this" (pointing to stomach). "I need to do arms". The normal stuff.

I explained how weights help strengthen the CNS and how she will get stronger and feel better. She likes weight training. She doesn't like boxing so much. It really tires her out. She can't keep her hands up. I correct her to much. Just habit.

 

[Bakerboy]

She doesn't like boxing so much. It really tires her out. She can't keep her hands up.

If a person is not used to pushing themselves physically, it's going to be hard. It should be hard. If you are not tired after hitting the bag, you didn't work hard enough. lol It sounds like you are mixing it up for her and keeping it fun. I think it is smart to only have her train for 20 min with weights to begin with- you can get a lot done in 20 min if you stick to basic compound movements and keep moving. It sound like she is doing awesome.

 

[Doublebase]

It sounds like you are mixing it up for her and keeping it fun. I think it is smart to only have her train for 20 min with weights to begin with- you can get a lot done in 20 min if you stick to basic compound movements and keep moving. It sound like she is doing awesome.

Exactly right. I don't want her to dread her workouts. I want her to look forward to them. Although she isn't. She doesn't hate them though. I have her do 2 sets of around 10-12 reps for everything she does with weights. She takes about 45sec breaks in between sets. I keep her moving for about 45-60 mins all together. Only 2x a week. She is doing 3x this week. We are going to try to keep it there.

 

[Doublebase]

I'm taking her to the track tomorrow to see how long it takes her to run a mile. Should be interesting. I doubt she'll be able to run the whole thing.

 

[Plateau_Max]

Man... I remember when it wasn't possible to run a full mile. Tell your sister when she's done with her mile that if she stays with it she'll get better so fast even she'll be amazed. Over the course of 2 years I went from hardly being able to jog for 3 minutes to being able to run several miles without stopping or slowing down.

 

[Doublebase]

She ran/walked the mile in 13:20min. Not to bad. I need some other fun exercises to have her do. Some stuff we can do outside. I have her do crunches, girl push-ups, free squats, some other stuff here and there.

 

[DanK]

Never forget that actual sports can be fun, for the average person who is training for health/looks etc it can seem pointless to spend all that time building an athletic body and not use it... I find myself doing utterly unnecessary manual labor... just for the sake of lifting something besides a weight (used a shovel to 'till' a 17' radious area this weekend). Find a tennis court or something, preferably something she'd enjoy, when I'm having fun 3 hours of exercise, no biggy... it won't even feel like exercise until the next day...

 

[Doublebase]

Never forget that actual sports can be fun, for the average person who is training for health/looks etc it can seem pointless to spend all that time building an athletic body and not use it... I find myself doing utterly unnecessary manual labor... just for the sake of lifting something besides a weight (used a shovel to 'till' a 17' radious area this weekend). Find a tennis court or something, preferably something she'd enjoy, when I'm having fun 3 hours of exercise, no biggy... it won't even feel like exercise until the next day...

My sister is one the most unathletic people I know. Her favorite sport to play is babmitten.